Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/22/2012

According to Bulgarian media outlets, the suicide bomber who killed six people at the Burgas airport had an accomplice, for whom police are now searching. The role of the accomplice may have been to trigger the explosive device remotely.

In other news, terrorists have blown up the Egypt-Israel gas pipeline in Gaza for the fourteenth time since the Arab Spring began in 2011.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nick, RR, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Violent White Boys

Today is the first anniversary of the massacre at Utøya Island. I’m told there was a huge demonstration in Oslo in observance of the people who died at the hands of their native mass killer, Anders Behring Breivik.

In an inadvertent piece of irony, Gates of Vienna was ‘present’ from almost the opening moment of the massacre, when that truck bomb was detonated by Breivik in Oslo. No one could have guessed he was even then hastening on to Utøya for his real revenge against a group he’d wanted at one time to join. But his step-father made it plain he’d never be good enough.

As Breivik detonated that truck, the Baron and some of the Europeans were discussing current events online. Fjordman mentioned that he’d just heard what he thought was a clap of thunder…or a bomb. He turned on his television to find the beginning of the awful images that would be churned out by the MSM over the coming months.


Of course, everyone — including The New York Times — initially laid the blame at the door of Islamic terrorists. In fact, some terrorist groups rushed to take credit for the death and destruction — was that not their signature statement? Do they not repeatedly claim they love death more than life?

As the truth emerged — with the help of the Norwegian MSM in a helicopter whirling overhead, taking pictures of Breivik strolling along the shoreline finishing off his victims — the struggle to come to terms with the sickening horror was long and difficult.

That incident itself was particularly chilling: the media’s eagerness to take pictures and simply watch children being killed without interfering with Breivik at all was one of the most horrific aspects of that long and awful day.

But that was just the beginning of our education about the Norwegian MSM. Later we would learn that Norway’s media and academia and political elites are entwined in ways that are foreign to Americans. (At times when such behavior has been revealed here, it is jeered at as “fawning” when it comes to, say, the White House Press Corps and their treatment of Obama.)

At any rate, we saw throughout the past year the myriad connections between and among the cultural gatekeepers in Norway. This overt symbiosis was striking to an outsider. It became obvious that the cooperation of the media and academic experts hauled out to parrot the party line served to underscore whatever current version of reality the political elites were espousing. Could this symbiosis be the result of the fact that government financially “supported” media outlets and academic institutions? As we would say here, a “cozy” arrangement indeed. And, as Caroline Glick pointed out, one of the hallmarks of a totalitarian democracy.

Norway is famous for its political and cultural consensus, but I’ve heard from enough Norwegians in the last year to know the sad truth: you’re safe, your job is safe, your medical benefits are safe, as long as you don’t step out of line. Stick with the consensus and the consensus will support you. Step out of line and you’d better have a refuge far from Norway.

Breivik’s trial served as a demonic convergence for all those forces. The circus atmosphere, noticed by the outside world, suited Norwegians just fine. Some bizarre justice was served by the rituals they served up. Here’s a description from a recent Wall Street Journal essay [this link is behind the subscription firewall]. The writer doesn’t seem to notice anything strange about what he observes and describes. To him, it is “moving”, to me it is surreal and creepy:

“A forensic investigator, Superintendent Gøran Dyvesveen, would describe the location on the island where each victim was shot and where the body was found. A forensic pathologist would then detail the injuries suffered by the victim, using a mannequin to demonstrate the trajectory and impact of each bullet. Finally a lawyer for the victim’s family would make a short statement about his or her life accompanied by a photo of the victim.

“Sharidyn Meegan Ngahiwi Svebakk-Boehn was shot near the lover’s path on the island,” Superintendent Dyvesveen summarized in one case. Then his pathologist colleague used a pointer to mark entrance and exit wounds on the gray mannequin representing her body. “The victim suffered two shots,” the pathologist said. “Both entered the left shoulder, then went through the left lung, and penetrated the aorta. One bullet was lodged in the chest, the other passed through the liver.” Then this: “Sharidyn died from these shots, which caused immediate unconsciousness and rapid death.” This victim was 14. She had dreamt of becoming a fashion designer, the court heard from her parents’ statement.

They added, “We are so proud that she chose us to be her parents.”

The emotional presentations did not disrupt the court’s decorum. Yet everyone — including the chief judge, the police investigators and pathologists, even the bailiffs and jaded European reporters sharing the room with me — was affected. Everyone, that is, except the killer himself. A vile smirk would occasionally cross Breivik’s lips when the courtroom camera cut to his profile.

Can you say “manipulative”? In fact, that adjective could be applied to most of the coverage of this drama, which repeated that scene for each and every one of the victims. Perhaps this surreal, repetitive theatrical piece gave the survivors some sense of satisfaction as they participated, but anyone familiar with the normal boundaries of jurisprudence would recoil from the acting-out they witnessed. It simply lacked sufficient gravitas to function as a murder trial. When one of the judges was caught playing solitaire during the proceedings, his evident boredom spoke volumes about the state’s performance.

I can no longer remember my pre-Breivik thoughts about Norway. I do remember thinking that, like Sweden, they’d drunk far too much of the multicultural Kool-Aid to be taken entirely seriously anymore. What I read in their press struck me as somewhat jejune, but that is to be expected of a very small polity with too much money and not enough real-world experience. I knew that ethnic Norwegian girls were being raped — there was an infamous incident several days before Breivik, right on the steps of Parliament… and the security guards watched; they said it wasn’t their job to interfere. For that poor woman, their callous disregard must have been as damaging as the rape itself.

The ESM Rides to the Rescue

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is a proposed financial organization that would backstop the troubled economies of the Eurozone, utilizing the seemingly bottomless financial resources of Germany to guarantee the liquidity of financially weaker member states of the European Union.

The ESM is currently being challenged in the German constitutional court. What will be the likely outcome if the court approves the measure and allows it to take effect later this year?

The following article from Die Welt takes a speculative look ahead at what the possible consequences might be. Many thanks to JLH for the translation:

This is How Dangerous the ESM Can Be For Germany

by Erwin Grandinger

Karlsruhe [constitutional court] is still pondering the urgent complaint against the ESM. But what happens if the judges wave the rescue package on through? The costs for Germans are beyond anything conceivable.

Investing in uncertain times is problematic for every private investor. Accountability in policy and in markets — a prerequisite for successful investing — is lost. Despite present confusion, certain scenarios can be envisioned.

One possibility: In order to secure itself against unwanted criticism, the court — after lengthy cogitation — will in September reject the urgent complaint against the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and fiscal pact.

The ESM goes into effect immediately at the beginning of October. In the meantime, the interest on long-term Spanish and Italian bonds has risen beyond 7%. Both countries immediately apply for help through the ESM.

Germany’s Liability Rises from 27 to 64 Percent

Many Bundestag representatives are surprised that Germany is now liable for two-thirds of the €1.14 billion of the total capital of ESM/EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility). And then there will be the rescue packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

In a parallel action, the German federal bank’s receivables in the Target2 system^[1] rise spasmodically. In June, EU central banks owe the Bundesbank (ergo the German taxpayer) €728 billion (€699 billion in May). Spain’s Target2 liability alone rises by €63 billion to €408.

The State Department’s Divided Loyalties

Michele Bachmann and four other congressional representatives have been taking a lot of flak in the press in recent days for their criticism of Muslim Brotherhood penetration at the highest levels of the Obama administration. In particular, they are being savaged for pointing out the family connections of Huma Abedin, one of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top aides, with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Their concerns are disparagingly referred to as the “new McCarthyism”. However, whatever one might think of Sen. Joe McCarthy, the opening of the Soviet archives in the 1990s proved that he was right: the United States government, especially the State Department, had been penetrated at the highest levels by agents of the Soviet Union.

Congress was right to be concerned about Communist infiltration in 1949, and it is right to be concerned about Muslim Brotherhood infiltration in 2012.

The Center for Security Policy has done some research into the MB activities of Huma Abedin’s mother, and they are disturbing indeed. Below is a press release on the topic issued earlier today by CSP.


Center Report Reveals Radical Islamist Views and Agenda of Senior State Department Official Huma Abedin’s Mother

WASHINGTON, D.C.: A book published and translated by the mother of Obama administration State Department Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin provides fresh evidence that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s closest aide has deeply problematic foreign associations that could, in violation of departmental guidelines, “create… a heightened risk of foreign exploitation, inducement, manipulation, pressure, or coercion.”

In light of the escalating controversy over the role being played in U.S. security policy-making by Ms. Abedin and others with personal and/or professional ties to the Muslim Brotherhood (see Part 8 of the Center for Security Policy’s online curriculum at MuslimBrotherhoodinAmerica.com), the revelations contained in a new Center report — Ties That Bind? The Views and Agenda of Huma Abedin’s Islamist Mother (pdf) — could not be more timely, or important.

The Center’s report excerpts and analyzes relevant passages from a book published and translated by Saleha S. Mahmood Abedin called Women in Islam: A Discourse in Rights and Obligations by Fatima Umar Naseef. Naseef is a past head of the “women’s section” and professor of shariah at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, where Dr. Abedin is also on the faculty. The book was published in 1999, the same year Dr. Abedin founded Dar Al Hekma, a university for women also in Jeddah, that Secretary Clinton visited and spoke admiringly of with Huma Abedin in February 2010. [See Remarks on that occasion by Mrs. Clinton, including her comment that Huma holds a “very sensitive and important position” in her department, and those by her hosts.]

Excerpts from Women in Islam in Ties That Bind? The Views and Agenda of Huma Abedin’s Islamist Mother (pdf) include Islamic shariah justifications for the following:

• Stoning for Adultery when Married; Lashing for Adultery when Unmarried
  
• No Death Penalty for the Murder of an Apostate
  
• Freedom of Expression Curtailed to What Benefits Islam
  
• Women’s Right to Participate in Armed Jihad
  
• Social Interaction Between the Sexes is Forbidden
  
• Women Have No Right to Abstain from Sex with their Husbands
  
• A Woman Should Not Let Anyone Into the House Unless Approved by Her Husband
  
• Female Genital Mutilation is Allowed
  
• Man-Made Laws “Enslave Women”

The organization responsible for the publication of Women in Islam was the International Islamic Committee for Woman & Child (IICWC), chaired at the time by Dr. Abedin. IICWC misleadingly describes itself as “an international organization of concerned women who are committed to improving the condition of women and children around the world.” In fact, like the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim World League (MWL) and other Islamist organizations with which it is associated, the IICWC is committed to eviscerating the rights of women and children by imposing everywhere shariah, a code that denies them fundamental — and, in the United States, constitutional — liberties.

Specifically, the book published by Dr. Abedin wholeheartedly affirms: limits on women’s free expression; the permissibility of stoning as a punishment for adultery, killing of apostates and female genital mutilation; the contention that “man-made laws” enslave women; and more. It also endorses women’s right to fight in armed jihad. Women in Islam is available online and sold at the Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs, an Islamist organization co-founded by Huma Abedin’s mother and her late father, Dr. Syed Zainul Abedin.

On July 21, former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy posted an essay at National Review Online that should be required reading for everyone commenting on the request by five Members of Congress led by Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota for Inspector General investigations of Muslim Brotherhood influence operations within the U.S. government. In it, he observed that the Institute for Muslim Minority Affairs “was backed by the Muslim World League. As the Hudson Institute’s Zeyno Baran relates, the MWL was started by the Saudi government in 1962 ‘with Brotherhood members in key leadership positions.’ It has served as the principal vehicle for the propagation of Islamic supremacism by the Saudis and the Brotherhood.”

Mr. McCarthy notes that:

“Danish Girls Must Learn to Behave Differently”

Our Danish correspondent Signe sends a summary of the latest news on culturally enriched rape in Denmark:

It makes you want to laugh or cry.

Danish media are overflowing with Utøya memorials today. However, on page 23 in BT the following story surfaces (I’ve translated the salient parts):

Every other convicted rapist is foreign

Iraqis, Iranians, Turks and Somalis are dramatically overrepresented in Danish rape verdicts.

More than every other time that judges in 2010 found a felon guilty of rape, the convict was an immigrant or Danish-born to immigrant parents, reveal the official numbers from Statistics Denmark. Specifically, 32 with Danish background, 27 immigrants and 7 children of immigrants were convicted in 2010.

Karina Lorentzen from the Socialist People’s Party is shocked and appalled: “It is wildly concerning that immigrants and refugees are so overrepresented […] it would seem that some immigrants have not learned that in Denmark a short summer dress is not an invitation to sex.”

She offers a socialist solution:

Sweden Struggles Against Racism and Exclusion

The first anniversary of the massacre on Utøya has been an occasion for breast-beating and soul-searching, especially in Norway and Sweden. Our Swedish correspondent LN has translated an opinion piece from the Swedish MSM about the lessons Swedes should learn from last year’s atrocity in Norway.

The translator includes this note:

This op-ed by Anna Ardin is pathetic — it is just plain nursery-level, and the original is in bad Swedish, too.

Is this an attempt at self-persuasion?

From yesterday’s Svenska Dagbladet:

The worldview of the racists is not ours

The xenophobes will not get the rest of us to imitate a mindset and a language in which people are lumped together by faith or background. The public discourse shall not be poisoned.

So writes Anna Ardin of ‘One Sweden’, along with representatives of several other organizations.

[Photo: The island of Utøya, Tyrifjorden.

The place where Anders Breivik Behring shot and killed 69 young people.]

After the tragedy at Utøya, we expected that the attitude towards people from other countries would change. That did not happen. Xenophobic blogs are still popular, and the number of organizations which are critical of Muslims is steadily growing. When these forces are given free rein and are allowed to decide what we’re talking about, and how, the conditions for both an inquisitive dialogue between people and for a fair and objective criticism of religion are excluded.

In Sweden racism has a long history. Although the government has distanced itself from racism, it is still alive in everyday life, in reckless statements about immigrants or about the opinions Muslims are supposed to have.

The racism of daily life is reinforced by xenophobic organizations within civil society. In official contexts races are no longer mentioned; instead one speaks of cultures. The struggle against ‘foreign racial elements’ has been replaced by ‘foreign cultures’. But these are cultures that one is born into and allegedly cannot change.

To these organizations, ‘Multiculture’ is the great enemy, as our opponents believe that people who are born dissimilar cannot, or should not, live together. They do not believe that multiple cultures can exist within the same country without giving rise to unsolvable conflicts. Especially Muslims, they believe, are impossible to integrate. The racists also are using criticism of religion in their attempts to legitimize attacks on Islam and Muslims, the same tools so often used in attacks on Jews.

A Street-Fighting Man?

Gates of Vienna does not advocate violence as a solution to the problem of Islamization.

Dymphna and I take have taken that position not just to avoid being shut down by Blogger or investigated by the Department of Homeland Security — although such considerations obviously play a role in our strategic thinking — but also because we believe that violence will not provide the most effective solution to the problem.

Violence may indeed come, despite our aversion to it. But we will continue to strive for a non-violent resolution through public debate and the ballot box.

We may well be pursuing a chimera, but we will persist.

When I was in school in England back in the 1960s, one of our teachers was a man who had lived in Germany during the interwar period. He was adamant in his belief that no one who had lived through an extended time of civil unrest would ever wish for such a thing to happen.

Those who argue for violence are in effect hoping for a breakdown of civil order. Germany during the period 1918-1923 — from the Armistice through the Treaty of Versailles to the Inflation — provides an instructive example.

The Freikorps — disillusioned nationalists who had been armed by the war, and then deprived of their monarch — took to the streets to do battle with the Communists. During the same period Anton Drexler founded the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, later the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP) to oppose the international socialism of the Communists. The streets of Berlin ran red with blood nearly every night.

And we all know how that one turned out.

The rule of law is a precious thing, not to be lightly discarded. Yes, I realize that our treasonous leaders on both sides of the Atlantic are dismantling the rule of law even as I write these words. But its total disappearance — warring militias, armed thuggery, heaps of bodies in the streets — is not an alternative to be desired.


I bring all this up because of an email we received earlier today. A reader from outside the UK watched Tommy Robinson’s speech, and was prompted to write to us. He said, “Would you please relay this to Tommy Robinson. I think you would not publish this on your site, but I think he should read it.”

I’ve forwarded his message to Tommy, but I’m also willing to post it here. We allow a variety of opinions at Gates of Vienna, even if we don’t agree with all of them:

I saw Tommy Robinson’s speech. Mr Robinson is wondering why he is harassed?

It’s simple. One Question will reveal it:

What happens if the police move against…

1.		Antifascists? Stones, sticks and molotov cocktails are thrown at them. So it is endangering the lives of police officers. So they do not do it.
2.		Muslims? One or more parts of the city are on fire, massive danger to local populace and police. So it is endangering the lives of police officers. So they do not do it.
3.		Tommy Robinson / EDL / BNP etc? Angry letters and a couple of lawsuits. Nothing more, no threats to the lives of police officers. Easy targets. Let’s harass them!

Ezra Pound: “If a man is not willing to die for his opinion, either he or his opinion are worthless.”

Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/21/2012

It’s that time of year again! No, not the Silly Season, but Ramadan. Check out the Ramadan greetings sent to the world’s 1.7 septillion Muslims by Bob Carr (Foreign Minister, Australia), David Cameron (Prime Minister, UK), Ed Miliband (Labour Party leader, UK), and Barack Hussein Obama (President, USA).

In other news, a Slovak thief has boasted on YouTube that he has stolen the dentures of Johannes Brahms and Johann Strauss from the composers’ graves. Police in Vienna are checking to see if the choppers of Beethoven, Schubert, and Schoenberg are also missing. A word of advice to Danny Elfman: keep your mouth shut!

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, McR, Seneca III, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Brussels 2012: Lars Hedegaard’s Speech

Lars Hedegaard Jensen was born in Horsens, Denmark. After graduating from Aarhus University (History, 1971) and Copenhagen University (English, 1973), he taught at a high school in Copenhagen until 1975.

From 1975 until 1980 he worked as an editor for Sage Publications in Beverly Hills, California. Upon his return to Denmark he became an editor at the Politiken publishing house, and later worked as a consultant to the national organization of trade unions.

From 1987-1990 Mr. Hedegaard was editor-in-chief of the Copenhagen daily newspaper Information. From 1990-2001 he worked for the Nordic Council of Ministers. From 1999-2008 he was a regular contributor to Berlingske Tidende newspaper.

Since 2004 he has been President of the Free Press Society, and since 2007 co-director of the book publisher The Free Speech Library. He the author of several books on contemporary history and Islamic affairs.

At the International Free Speech and Human Rights Conference in Brussels on July 9 2012, ICLA formally recognized Lars Hedegaard for his valuable work in on behalf of free expression by asking Mark Steyn to present him with the first annual “Defender of Freedom Award”.

Many thanks to Europe News for recording this video, and to Vlad Tepes for uploading it:


Previous posts about the Brussels Process:

Déclaration de Bruxelles 9 juillet 2012

(The English-language version of this post may be found here.)

Le moment fort de la Conférence Internationale pour la Liberté d'Expression et les droits de l'Homme tenue le 9 juillet 2012 fut la lecture et la signature de la Déclaration de Bruxelles qui établit une ligne d'action stratégique contrant le programme islamique d'imposition mondiale de la Charia.

Alain Wagner (France) présente le document.

Ned May (USA) lit le texte de la résolution.

Elisabeth Sabaditch-Wolff (Autriche) lit les huit mesures exigées de nos gouvernements.

La signature de ce document marque de commencement du Processus de Bruxelles, une initiative inscrite dans la durée qui à pour but de protéger la Liberté d'Expression, les droits de l'Homme et la Démocratie des actions destructrices des promoteurs de la Charia.


Previous posts about the Brussels Process:

Brussels 2012: Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff’s Speech

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is an Austrian activist for Bürgerbewegung Pax Europa (BPE), a lecturer on Islamic politics, and a victim of sharia-compliant "hate speech" laws.

Below is the speech given by Elisabeth at the Brussels Conference on July 9, 2012. Many thanks to Europe News for recording this video, and to Vlad Tepes for uploading it:


The prepared text for Elisabeth’s speech is here.

Previous posts about the Brussels Process:

Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/20/2012

Early this morning a young man named James Holmes attacked a crowd at a movie theater in Aurora Colorado with an arsenal of weapons, killing twelve people. Early media reports suggested that he might have been a Tea Party supporter motivated by right-wing extremism, but these rumors proved unfounded. The occasion of the shooting was the opening of the new Batman movie, and the shooter is said to have been dressed as the Joker — in other words, he may have attempted to realize a Batman-related fantasy.

In other news, a young man in England assaulted a young female runner carrying the Olympic torch, shouting “Allahu akhbar” as he attempted to grab it away from her. The torch remained in her hands, and the would-be thief is now in police custody.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Louie Gohmert vs. Janet Napolitano and the Muslim Brotherhood

I’ve had the privilege of meeting Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) several times, and know him to be a staunch defender of our country against Islamic radicalism and the infiltration of the federal government by the Muslim Brotherhood.

In the video below, you’ll see him question — or attempt to question — Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, about Mohamed Elibiary. Mr. Elibiary is alleged to have obtained classified information from an online database after DHS provided him with a secret security clearance. Reports say he then shopped the documents around to interested parties.

Mohamed Elibiary has direct, publicly confirmed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Watch Secretary Napolitano dodge and weave her way around any questions that might require her to give substantive information about the treasonous behavior of DHS and the Obama administration:


Hat tip: DL.

Dialogue in Vienna

I’m still catching up on the backlog of translations that came in while I was away in Brussels. The following article, published a couple of weeks ago in Die Presse, describes the approval by the Austrian Parliament of the King Abdullah Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.

Many thanks to Hermes for the translation:

The “King Abdullah Center” given permission to be located in Vienna

The FPÖ [Austrian Freedom Party] and the Greens voted against it. They argued that there’s no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. The former justice minister Bandion-Ortner is expected to be the deputy general secretary.

The “King Abdullah Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue” is welcomed in Austria. The national assembly reached an agreement on Friday afternoon, despite negative votes from the FPÖ and the Greens, to provide this center, which is to be established in Vienna, with a legal identity. This is controversial mainly because it is financed by Saudi Arabia.

The FPÖ wants among other things the renaming of the center, which is to be named after the Saudi king, since the nature of the regime in Saudi Arabia is not compatible with an institution for religious dialogue. The FPÖ also considers that this institution is financially unsustainable over the long term. However, the party spoke in favor of the center while the issue was in committee. The Greens had been always against it, with their representative Alev Korun saying that it would be putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, if one sees how human rights and freedom of religion are trodden upon.

The SPÖ and the ÖVP defend the decision

The ÖVP [Austrian People’s Party] defended [the plan for] the center and rebuked these arguments, saying that dialogue is indispensable, and Vienna should remain a city of dialogue. Representative Reinhold Lopatka said that the Wahhabis (the leading group in Saudi Arabia) should also not be excluded. The SPÖ [Austrian Socialist Party] representative Hannes Weninger understood the concerns that the center could be used as a cover for the regime in Riyadh, but the general declaration of human rights and freedom of religion in the preamble of the institute’s declaration is also to be taken into consideration. The BZÖ [Alliance for the Future of Austria] based its positive vote in the necessity for dialogue.

The directorate of the institution will have representatives from twelve religions, including Judaism. The former justice minister Claudia Bandion-Ortner (ÖVP) is expected to fill the post of deputy general secretary. The opening of the center is scheduled for the end of November.

In contrast, consider this brief article from Bild, also translated by Hermes.

Dialogue in Austria; obedience in the Emirates: